Arrests in Uganda, Nigeria shine spotlight on grim state of LGBTQ rights across much of Africa

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08/31/2023

Human rights groups are concerned about recent crackdowns targeting LGBTQ people in parts of Africa under laws that restrict their very existence. Police in Nigeria arrested more than 60 people in a raid on an apparent same-sex wedding early Monday, while Ugandan authorities are for the first time charging a man with “aggravated homosexuality,” an offence that can be punishable by death under the country’s anti-LGBTQ legislation. Nigeria and Uganda — among 32 of the 54 African nations that criminalize same-sex relations — have some of the strictest anti-LGBTQ laws in the world. Observers say in addition to criminal penalties, such laws have a chilling effect on the day-to-day lives of members of the LGBTQ community. “In Africa, homosexuality is seen as something that is an abomination,” said Christopher Nkambwe, an LGBTQ activist who fled Uganda and came to Canada as a refugee in 2019. He is now executive director of African Centre for Refugees in Ontario – Canada, which assists LGBTQ and intersex people escaping persecution.

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